Renowned and respected former Umpire from England, David Shepherd died yesterday. He was fighting with cancer since past some time. He was 68. Shepherd is survived by his wife Jenny, whom he married last year.

‘Shep’ was regarded as one of the best umpires of his generations. He stood in 92 Tests and 172 ODI’s. He officiated three consecutive world cup finals in 1996, 1999 and 2003.

He was very popular among the spectators too, specially because of his superstitious habit of standing on one leg when the score was “Nelson” i.e. 111 or multiples like 222 or 333 and so on.

Shepherd played county cricket for Gloucestershire, making his first-class debut in 1965.

After dropping curtains on his playing career in 1979, Shepherd made his international umpiring debut in the 1983 World Cup.

His last Test match was between West Indies and Pakistan in Kingston in June 2005 – after which Brian Lara presented him with a bat inscribed with a message thanking him for “the service, the memories and the professionalism“.